There is nothing quite like the Celebrity Game at NBA All-Star Weekend, where some of the most popular fans of the league from the world of entertainment get a chance to showcase their talents (or lack thereof) on the same court as the best basketball players in the world.
From a broadcasting perspective, it is also a very different experience than calling a regular game. In-game interviews and sideline shenanigans are going on at the same time — you have to keep an eye on all of them alongside the things actually happening on the court. For the second year in a row, Monica McNutt will join Ryan Rocco, Richard Jefferson, and Cassidy Hubbarth on the ESPN call of the Celebrity Game on Friday night (7:00 p.m. ET), and she’s extremely excited to see what this year’s edition has in store after an incredibly chaotic 2022 game.
“I had so much fun last year,” McNutt told Dime over the phone this week. “Like, I don’t even remember anything that made sense besides Janelle Monae playing defense on offense and Dwyane Wade trying to communicate that to her. Ben Affleck and Chris Rock coming over to the booth, Shaq sitting next to us, myself and Jonesy laughing till we could not laugh anymore, and Richard Jefferson ripping off his shirt to go officiate and the button hitting me in my chest. So, yeah, all those things are why I’m back.”
The point of the Celebrity Game is to have fun, and McNutt enjoys the opportunity to open up and let loose a bit more on a broadcast alongside Jones. Part of the beauty of sports in general is knowing anything can happen in a game, but with the various personalities on hand in the Celebrity Game, that gets taken to extremes beyond the game play itself. For a broadcast, that means being nimble and embracing the chaos.
“It really is a spectacle and it is unique and it is fun. And for me personally, that’s the kind of stuff that I love to be a part of,” McNutt said. “And so I think the no rules kind of format — of course relying on our professional expertise as TV people to stay within that train track, so to speak — but it is just such a celebration of not just the NBA, but of people that have been able to accomplish some things that have deemed for them to get some recognition in something which is not their specialty. So, it’s a cool experience for them and it’s a fun experience for us.”
The All-Star break also provides an opportunity to take stock of the season so far, and for McNutt, that means looking back at a year where she’s continued to push herself professionally. She’s continued to add calling games as an analyst for ESPN this year, along with doing radio for Knicks games on MSG Networks. It’s quite the stage to learn a new craft, and she opened up a bit about her journey thus far as an NBA analyst.
“Honestly, Robby, there’s a lot of pressure that comes with it. And I will be frank, I’ve called four games to date this season, there have been some where I felt like I nailed it better than others,” McNutt said. “I think for me, the vulnerability of a live learning lab with tens of thousands — or millions — of viewers has been something that has kind of weighed on me a little bit, if I’m honest. Now, I obviously come from an athletic background, so I’m excited about the feedback and the support and the opportunities to get better.
“But I’m still very much learning and growing,” she continued. “And I hope that if I’m fortunate enough to do this three, five, 10 years or whatever life seems to allow, that each year I will continue to get better. And so I do the job with that in mind, doing my best to give myself grace. I’m thankful for the network that I have in terms of folks that support but I think doing something new — and if you’d like to get real time nasty feedback, just being able to open up an app — is an exercise in mental health. And the best way to go about it in order to improve the craft that I love and respect so much is to stay focused on doing that, because there is so much noise out there.”
On the technical side, calling the game at the NBA level is incredibly challenging. As McNutt explains, the speed of the game is just different than calling a college game or even a WNBA game, and that requires a demanding level of efficiency as a broadcaster. There is so much you may want to say, but you have to squeeze your thoughts — analysis of what’s happening on the court, storytelling about players and coaches, and thoughts about the league as a whole — into tight windows. Beyond that, there’s two vastly different rhythms to calling a game on radio, where you have to be more concise to allow the play-by-play to detail what’s happening, and calling a game on TV, where you have more space, freedom, and a unique set of challenges, particularly with limited reps.
“I think in radio, you kind of have free throw to free throw line, once you develop a good rhythm with your partner, to kind of get in,” McNutt said. “And if you are a little bit heavy winded, because the audience can’t necessarily see, a good play-by-play — I’ve been fortunate to work with many — can catch the audience up seamlessly. But TV, there’s so much more room to color in this template with stories and anecdotes and basketball knowledge. And if you’re really, really fortunate, you’ve got a replay and a Telestrator, you can really get into the weeds and show off what you know, but you don’t have that every single game.
“And so, I think the first thing is your relationship with your play-by-play artist, as I call them, whether that’s radio or television, because the two of you have to find a flow that works, and that may mean having a conversation in a break,” she continued. “Are we good? Or talking to a producer. And then I think our pregame meetings are largely important. What are you hot on is often the question, like ‘What are you going into this game looking for?’ But even the best laid plans of mice and men, they get blown up. For example, on Christmas Day, we planned for the stars and neither Jimmy [Butler] nor Joel [Embiid] played. So, there’s certainly a fluidity that again goes back to my experience as an athlete being able to roll with the punches, make lemonade out of lemons, so to speak. But it is one of those things that you just have to be able to do, you have to continue to get the reps. And I know for me, sort of in my first endeavor on the NBA side, the abundance of reps is not there — and rightfully so, right? Like, this is a big stage, you don’t really have time to learn on the fly, but I’m so thankful for the opportunities in the WNBA and even radio. While it is a different medium, it does allow me to study the league, traveling with the Knicks.”
McNutt, who played basketball at Georgetown, leans on that background in calling games and approaching the work of improving as an analyst. She goes back and watches the tape, seeing what she could’ve done better — where she could’ve added more or what she could’ve laid out — and talks through things with her new teammates and coaches: the play-by-play “artists,” as she calls them, and producers. She highlights producers Laurie Privitera and Paul Ervin, as well as Jones and Ryan Ruocco, as being incredibly helpful in working with her, as well as the legendary Doris Burke for always sharing experience and advice.
However, as McNutt notes, there’s only so much you can get from others in the business. So much is about what you can pull from within yourself to allow it to shine through.
“There is feedback and professionalism and nailing analysis or understanding the moments and all that good stuff,” McNutt explained. “But then there’s also also an element to this that you bring yourself, and no analyst is quite the same.”
McNutt is one of very few Black women in the NBA analyst space, particularly calling games, and there is a distinct challenge in being someone who doesn’t look or sound like what people are accustomed to on a broadcast. What is a welcome breath of fresh air to some is unfortunately not well-received by others, and in an industry where authenticity is a prerequisite to long-term success — you can only play a character for so long before you get burnt out — finding comfort in your identity on a new stage is a process that McNutt is trying to embrace.
“It’s been a journey. I will say that I feel myself stretching and growing and working at this point in my career in a way that I don’t really recall since I got to ESPN,” McNutt said. “[There was] sort of a hustle to get to ESPN, and then I found my way a bit, finding my rhythm in the different roles that I had. And now this, it has required another level of diligence and focus to rise to the occasion. And so I am one who believes that life and our experiences are truly a living, breathing entity. And what you do today may not be what you want to do next week, so you have to stand in the work that you’re doing. Does it make you happy? Are you proud of it? And so far, I am very much enjoying this journey and hope to continue to have the opportunity to hone that craft.”
Source: https://uproxx.com/dimemag/monica-mcnutt-interview-espn-nba-all-star-celebrity-game/
